abstraction

[ ab-strak-shuhn ]

noun

1. an abstract or general idea or term.
2. the act of considering something as a general quality or characteristic, apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.
3. an impractical idea; something visionary and unrealistic.
4. the act of taking away or separating; withdrawal:

   The sensation of cold is due to the abstraction of heat from our bodies.

5. secret removal, especially theft.
6. absent-mindedness; inattention; mental absorption.
7. Fine Arts.
   1. the abstract qualities or characteristics of a work of art.
   2. a work of art, especially a nonrepresentational one, stressing formal relationships.

abstraction

/ æbˈstrækʃən /

noun

1. absence of mind; preoccupation
2. the process of formulating generalized ideas or concepts by extracting common qualities from specific examples
3. an idea or concept formulated in this way

   good and evil are abstractions

4. See lambda calculus
   logic an operator that forms a class name or predicate from any given expression See also lambda calculus
5. an abstract painting, sculpture, etc
6. the act of withdrawing or removing

Derived Forms

• abˈstractively, adverb
• abˈstractive, adjective

Other Words From

• ab·straction·al adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of abstraction¹

First recorded in 1540–50; from Late Latin abstractiōn-, stem of abstractiō “separation,” literally, “a drawing off,” from abstract(us) “drawn off” + -iō noun suffix; abstract -ion

Example Sentences

Flattening the curve became an abstraction with no real meaning.

From Vox

A thoughtful return to contextual advertising means that the industry will need to consider the whole person, rather than a collection of abstractions.

From Search Engine Watch

In other words, their understanding doesn’t rely on the kind of abstraction of the world that text provides.

From MIT Technology Review

This is a great book if you are looking for something with a little bit of abstraction and a lot of access to animals you won’t find out and about.

From Popular-Science

It suggests the model is actually capable of a certain level of abstraction, a fundamental skill for understanding the world.

From MIT Technology Review

It frustrated her to hear other students discussing death as an abstraction, subject to simple moral rules.

From The Daily Beast

It is this kind of abstraction that leads to more mythology, more heroic narratives, more undertones of patriotic martyrdom.

From The Daily Beast

In the many portraits, Picasso oscillates between naturalism and abstraction in his portraits of Jacqueline.

From The Daily Beast

Democrats have to stop allowing Republicans to define the election as an up or down vote on an abstraction called Obamacare.

From The Daily Beast

Only someone already painfully unable to deal with abstraction would draw such a suicidal conclusion.

From The Daily Beast

Anemia in these cases is probably due both to toxins and to abstraction of blood.

From Project Gutenberg

Recovering from his fit of abstraction, Pyne, casting a final keen glance at the sleeper, walked out of the room.

From Project Gutenberg

Never affect a foolish reserve in a mixed company, keeping aloof from others as if in a state of mental abstraction.

From Project Gutenberg

In their abstraction they had taken the long way home, instead of cutting directly across the ranch in the direction of the house.

From Project Gutenberg

But in this abstraction from all outward things, his worldly affairs went ever lower down.

From Project Gutenberg